Course Update

Coring last week went as well as can be expected considering we recorded another 143mm rain with 115mm of that rain falling within a 12-hour period.

We managed to core and sand all the greens on Monday 3 April before the rain started and as a result we were not able to core any of the Tees so the plan is to try again in May along with a solid tine of the fairways and green surrounds. The rest of last week was spent fixing bunkers and paths (yet again) and installing the Bunker Matrix into the bunker to the right of the 18^th green. This is now complete and the sand is being installed today, 11 April.

Bunker matrix installation Green Side Hole 18.

Another nice milestone is the reopening of Hole 12 since the green and bunkers have been rebuilt along with new paths and drainage installed throughout the fairway. Despite all the challenges with the weather (wind blowing some seed away on the green and flooding) the green has come along nicely and looks like it is playing quite well. I have taken the time to watch many play the hole and all in all it seems to be playing very nicely, particularly the bunkers which also have the new Bunker Matrix lining installed in them.

This week we are focussing all our efforts on the course on getting the course back to the best possible condition after all the rain. The good news is that the greens have responded nicely to coring and are recovering very well. We are in the process of collecting all the core piles and will be turfing some damaged areas around the course. We also have a few trees and branches that have fallen in the recent storms and these will be cut up and removed within the next few weeks. We have also planned to ‘top drain’ a small area that is a problem in winter between the front of the 2^nd tee and the 2^nd fairway and we are hoping to have this completed by Thursday (again, weather permitting).

One will also notice too that we have been going full steam ahead on the Driving Range fairway, creating new synthetic turf target greens and ‘capping’ the entire fairway with a decent layer of sand. This sand should complement the already installed drainage on the fairway and provide for a smooth and firmer surface for the range fairway throughout the year. This should result in less golf balls being lost in the mud, make the balls easier to pick up and will allow for a much more realistic and aesthetically pleasing target fairway. Watch this space!